


Pray

by lmharmon



Series: I Design Disasters [1]
Category: Black Sails
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:07:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24988042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lmharmon/pseuds/lmharmon
Summary: Abigail Ashe attempts to kill Colonel Rhett, the man who killed Miranda Hamilton. The consequences lead her to a plantation in Savannah.
Series: I Design Disasters [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956781
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	Pray

**1715**

**Charles Town, Province of Carolina**

Abigail didn’t quite know what made her do it. Perhaps the fact that no one else would.

As she was being escorted out of the Governor’s Mansion by the members of the Charles Town Militia who would be taking her to Savannah to stay with family friend Mr. Ashford, Abigail saw her father speaking with Colonel Rhett, the man who had killed Miranda Hamilton. Without much thought, she took the pistol from the belt of one of the militiamen walking by her side and pointed it at Rhett. She pulled the trigger.

Click.

The pistol misfired.

Silence.

Silence as Rhett, his men, several servants, and her father stared at her in horror, realizing what she had tried to do.

Her father was the first to react. He walked toward Abigail quickly and pried the pistol from her still outstretched hand. He handed it roughly back to the disarmed militiaman, who tried to sputter out an apology. Her father did not wait to hear it. He grabbed Abigail by the arm and pulled her the rest of the way to the carriage. He practically threw her inside.

“Now, I know you have been through a lot recently, so I’ll see to it that Colonel Rhett forgets this little mishap,” her father said, his voice strangely calm.

“Forget?” Abigail said, her voice shaking. “I do not want him to forget. I want him to remember that death in the punishment he deserves for what he has done.”

Her father winced. “Oh, Abigail. I will pray for your soul.”

“You do that,” Abigail said, her voice steadier now. “But know that I won’t pray for yours as long as you have a man like that in your employ.”

Her father doesn’t say another word to her. He closes the door to the carriage and walks away. A few minutes later, the carriage begins to roll on its way to Savannah.

\---

Abigail didn’t know what she expected a two-day journey by land accompanied by men whose commander she’d tried to kill to be like, but it was somehow both better and worse than anything she could have imagined.

When Charles Town is sacked, they are too far away to hear it, but they can see the smoke.

Some time later, a rider meets them and informs them that Governor Ashe and Colonel Rhett have both been killed by the pirates. Governor Ashe had been killed by Captain Flint himself.

Though the men think she can’t hear, Abigail hears them quietly discussing what is to be done with her now that her father is dead. She had no other family in the Provinces. Her mother died when she was young and she had no siblings. Her closest relative is an uncle back in England. It would be easy to say that she’d been killed along with her father.

One of the men, Williamson, who is seemingly the leader, is staunchly opposed to this. He insists that Abigail be taken to Mr. Ashford’s in Savannah as initially planned.

What was not likely initially planned however, was that Abigail would not be allowed to leave the carriage during any point in the journey. She was not provided any food or water, or a way to relieve or wash herself. When she tried to fall asleep, one of the men would bang on the side of the carriage to wake her up. Abigail believed the men expected her to beg for kinder treatment. She did not.

Though she is saddened by the death of her father, she finds that she is not angry with Mr. McGraw for killing him. Her father might not have killed Miranda himself, but he was just as responsible for her death as Rhett was. James had loved Miranda. A life for a life seemed fair. Even if it was her father’s.

She was disappointed, though, that Rhett had been killed in simple cannon fire.

When they finally make it to Mr. Ashford’s, Abigail is kept in the carriage for some time while the men speak with Mr. Ashford. When the carriage door is finally allowed to open, Abigail is dragged out by the militiamen and taken to a spare bedroom in Mr. Ashford’s home, where she is locked inside. After a while, a servant brings her a plate of food, a chamber pot, a basin of water, a washcloth, and a sponge. Again, Abigail believes she is expected to beg for more. She does not.

\---

**Savannah, Province of Georgia**

It takes four months to receive a response back from Noah Ashe, Abigail’s uncle. Four months of being locked alone in a bedroom.

On the one occasion Mr. Ashford visited her personally, he told her that her uncle had been informed about the attempt she had made on the life of a militia colonel, and that she’d supposedly been “tainted” by the pirates that had held her captive. She was to infer from this that her fate would not be a pleasant one.

When men finally came to take her, though they did appear to be from sort of militia - they carried muskets and were all dressed in the same dark beige uniform - they were much gentler with her than the Charles Town militiamen had been.

The carriage ride to her next destination was much shorter. After what seemed like no time at all, they arrived at a gate inscribed with the Latin phrase, “Non sibi sed allis.” Not for ourselves, but for others.

On the other side of the gate, there appeared to be a large plantation with a plantation house directly in the center. As the carriage approached the house, Abigail could see men working in a distant field.

When the carriage came to a stop in front of the house, Abigail was politely asked to exit the carriage and follow the men into the house. Having no other real option, she did so without resistance.

Once inside, she was led into an office where a man was sitting behind a desk. He was wearing the same dark beige uniform as the other men, though his was clearly more well-kept. He gestured for Abigail to sit in the chair on the opposite side of the desk.

“Miss Ashe,” he said, “my name is James Oglethorpe. I am the owner of this estate, and you have been placed into my care here for the foreseeable future.” He paused. “We don’t get very many people here as young as yourself, but I’m sure we can find something for you to do. I assume you know how to read and write?”

Abigail nodded.

Mr. Oglethorpe smiled. “Good. Perhaps you can help me here in the office.” He gestured to the men who had brought her there. “These gentlemen will show you to the living quarters. We can discuss your duties here tomorrow, once you’ve gotten settled.”

The men lead her out through the back of the plantation house and toward a set of three smaller buildings to the left of it. The guards briefly explained that the two buildings on the ends were the dormitories - one for the men and one for the women - and the building in the center was the kitchen. These buildings were to be her new home. 

As she was about to be led through the doors of the dormitory assigned to the women, Abigail heard someone call her name.

“Abigail?”

Abigail turned. A blond-haired man in a different sort of uniform was standing a few feet away staring at her, clearly confused by her presence. Despite the beard, Abigail recognized him almost instantly.

Thomas Hamilton.

Abigail thought she must be seeing a ghost. She prayed she was not.


End file.
